London: for Kids Big and Small

The big smoke for big kids.

We think of London as place of swank: posh shops, world famous museums and art galleries, Michelin star restaurants, Russian oligarchs but it’s also a great place to go if you steadfastly refuse to grow up.

Childish delights abound.

Bond in Motion, The London Film Museum

As one critic said, ‘Expect to be shaken and stirred.’ Bond in Motion is an exhibition featuring the largest collection of Bond vehicles assembled.

The collection includes James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5, in all its gloss and glory, Goldfinger’s majestic Rolls-Royce Phantom III and Roger Moore’s Lotus Esprit S1 submersible from The Spy Who Loved Me.

In total over 100 individual original items on display from all 23 James Bond Films from concept drawings, storyboards, scripts, model miniatures and full size vehicles from cars, boats, bikes and gyrocopters.

For More information see: Bond in Motion, The London Film Museum, until March 2015.

Dino Snores, The Museum of Natural History

OK, so we’ve all heard of sleepovers for kids in the halls of our great museums but what about sleepovers for grown ups?

Enjoy an informal 3 course meal and knock back a few drinks before a suitably light hearted but thoroughly educational forensic science lecture, followed by a midnight feast of edible insects – tastes just like crisps – then wander the exhibitions after dark or peel back your sleepy eyes for an all-night movie marathon. Before finally crawling into your sleeping bag in the grand setting of Hintze Hall at the feet of your favourite dinosaur. For more information see: Natural History Museum, Dino Snores for Grown-ups is for adults only. No under-18s will be admitted and proof of age may be requested.

Davenports Magic Shop

An emporium of magic like no other, a mecca for magicians, conjurers and masters of cunning. Davenports, famed in magic circles – sorry, too hard to resist – has been dealing in tricks since 1898 and is exactly the sort of dim, dark, slightly shabby interior you would hope to expect from a purveyor of the magic arts.

The shop is packed with instructive DVDs and items relating to tricks on card magic, coin magic and all manner of misdirection based fun. There are classes for both adults and children. If you can’t make it to Charing Cross there is an online shop.

Platform 9¾, The Harry Potter Shop

Fact, all big kids love Harry Potter. And this is the place to buy all the Potter paraphernalia to prove it. Located beside the legendary brick wall entrance to platform 9¾ in King’s Cross station, and the departure point for the huffing puffing Hogwarts Express.

It is in fact a relic of WWII rebuilt to transport tourists around the sights of London before belly flopping into the Thames in full view of the MI5 building. That’s about as close as you’re going to get to feeling like Bond in this baby. Having said that it is enormous fun and one of their many themed tours is in fact a Bond experience, so you could in fact make a big Bond day of it.

There are tours of varying duration. Can be booked exclusively.

For more information see: London Duck Tours.

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